Changing Ways to Seek Employment

As has been the case in other metropolitan areas, the employment opportunities in Denver have been seriously impacted by a plethora of factors. We have lost some of our major employers such as United and Frontier Airlines and Gates Rubber. With the advent of reduced NASA activities, our employment picture at such employers as Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman and the civilian populations associated with aerospace in our military establishments will also be affected.

For those who are seeking employment, due either to layoffs, terminations or graduation from educational institutions, new methods, strategies and tools are not optional but mandatory. The internet has antiquated the traditional want ad methods of going through column after column on Sunday morning, looking for openings that are skill-specific or commensurate with your previous position's job description.

Those who are in the career counseling and head-hunting business would suggest that the less antiquated but unfortunately popular methods of using job boards are substantially less effective than what would hope. We have all seen the statistics; for every IT position at a large organization such as Northrup, the hiring authority (or HR representative who precedes him or her) will receive 2000 resumes for each posted position. Entities such as Career Builder or Monster will post these positions for you and thousands of others to see.

What to do, what to do? No magic exists because the crystal ball factories have all downsized and the fairy godmothers and godfathers have been retrained for more technical positions. All the data suggests that one of the most critical (and productive) methods for overcoming the job shortage/candidate overpopulation is networking, live and on the internet.

Many opportunities are available to you if you expand past the traditional job search methods. With creative use of social media, friends, networking groups, former colleagues and a brand new approach from your standpoint, employment is much closer to reality for you than you may believe.